LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Hey, A.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Yep.
FADEL: Have you heard about Hot Santa?
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, like when I dress up in a Santa outfit.
FADEL: Uh, no.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
FADEL: He's Santa - not you - except younger and good-looking, and he works a retail job part-time.
MARTÍNEZ: Ah, OK. Fine.
FADEL: So let me explain. Hot Santa is a character in a new series of Target ads. He's played by character (ph) Brent Bailey. And he's basically a normal guy - well, a hot guy - except when he's not delivering presents to children all over the world, he works in the frozen section at Target.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD, "HOLIDAYS: TURKEY DEALS")
BRENT BAILEY: (As Kris K.) These turkey deals are the real deal.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Sarah (ph), did you hear that? It was Santa Claus. And he's, like, weirdly hot.
STEPPENWOLF: (Singing) Born to be wild...
MARTÍNEZ: Come on. Do we really need a hot Santa today?
FADEL: Apparently, we do need a hot Santa. Target's new Santa is a big hit online, so we called up an expert who could shed light on how Santa Claus has morphed over the years. Bruce Forbes is a retired professor of religious studies at Morningside University. He wrote the book "Christmas: A Candid History," and we asked him if he's ever seen a Santa quite like this one.
BRUCE FORBES: Well, I don't know about handsome and strong, but tall and thin.
MARTÍNEZ: What - so Santa had a six pack?
FADEL: I guess, at some point, he was thin. Before there was Santa, there was the Dutch mythical figure Sinterklass, based on the Catholic bishop St. Nicholas. He was tall and skinny, and he delivered oranges instead of, like, PlayStations.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
FADEL: After the Dutch brought Sinterklass here in the 17th century, the Americans took it and ran with it. And here's how Forbes says Santa is depicted in the classic poem, "The Night Before Christmas," first published in 1823.
FORBES: The image of Santa Claus would not be the Santa that you and I imagine now. So he's an elf, which, by the way, would help explain how he could come down a chimney, I guess (laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Yeah. See? I always wondered how he did that.
FADEL: Yeah, with so much - he's so chubby, how does he get down the chimney nowadays? But even though Santa has been shapeshifting for hundreds of years, Forbes says it was the American department store, and later Coca-Cola, that gave us the mainstream, chubby Santa we know today.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, the guy with the beard.
FADEL: Right. And Forbes says people can get very protective over that version of Santa.
FORBES: It also reminds me of the little kerfuffle when somebody on Fox was adamant that the Black Santa was not correct 'cause everybody knows Santa is white. You know, my first reaction is, how do you know anything about Santa because Santa has changed so much...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, see, I don't recall so much anger over other versions of Santa. I mean, Hulk Hogan played Santa in a really bad '90s movie, "Santa With Muscles" (laughter).
FADEL: Or the Santa portrayed by John Travolta in those Capital One commercials - he ordered milk at the bar and danced to the Bee Gees.
MARTÍNEZ: I know that commercial - disco Santa - love him.
FADEL: Yeah, so only one thing stands out here that's different than those Santas, right May (ph)?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STAYIN' ALIVE")
BEE GEES: (Singing) Ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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